Mbulu (R) celebrates after scoring the only goal of the game
Richard Mbulu scored the only goal to inspire Malawi National Football Team to a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Mozambique National Football team in the 2022 Qatar FIFA World Cup qualifiers played at Orlando Stadium in South Africa on Tuesday afternoon.
Flames coach Meck Mwase made three changes to the side that lost 2-0 to Mozambique on Saturday by handing starts to Richard Chipuwa, Gabadinho Mhango and Khuda Myaba for Ernest Kakhobwe, Yamikani Chester and Taonga Chimodzi.
It only took the hosts ten minutes to open the scoring in a dramatic way.
A bad back pass from the visitors caught their goalkeeper napping in the line of defence and failed to clear the ball which came off the bar to land straight at Mbulu who had a simple task of just putting the ball into an empty net, 1-0.
Malawi meant business from the word go and attacked with intent but the Mambas were now defending with caution to avoid further collateral damage.
With half-hour mark gone, Flames started playing too deep in order to protect their lead and ended up inviting pressure from the visitors who had some clear-cut chances at their disposal.
In the second half, Mozambique had numerous opportunities in the opening minutes to find the equalizer but Malawi defended in numbers and frustrated the Mambas who were attacking in numbers.
Mbulu was stretchered off for Dennis Chembezi and despite the pressure from the neighbors, Malawi stood firm to collect their first maximum point in group B.
The result means Mwase’s men are third with three points from two games whilst Mozambique are anchoring the group with one point.
Ivory Coast lead the standings with four points from the same number of games, seconded by Cameroon who have three points after going down 2-1 to the Elephants on Monday.
